Summary Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer (1918–1977)

From the Oral History Department, University of Southern Mississippi,
11 May 1999

Fannie Lou Hamer was born on a plantation in the Mississippi hill country
in 1918, the last child in a family of twenty children. Mrs. Hamer's
parents, who were sharecroppers, moved to Sunflower County, Mississippi,
when she was two years old. She recalled that "from two years old up
until now I've been in the Delta."

Due to the dire economic circumstances in which the family lived, Mrs.
Hamer received only about six years of formal education. At the time of
her youth the school term was only four months a year. Also, education at
that time was considered secondary to work; nevertheless, "When I was a
child, I loved to read. In fact, I learned to read real well when I was
going to school."

Mrs. Hamer married and continued farming until the 1960s. In 1962, Mrs.
Hamer learned about voting, saying, "That sounded interesting enough to me
that I wanted to try it." When the civil rights movement began in
Mississippi, Mrs. Hamer became first a participant and then a leader. She
joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee [SNCC] as a
fieldworker in voter registration drives.

As a result of this work for civil rights, Mrs. Hamer became a leading
figure in the organization of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. As
a member of the party, she attended the 1964 National Democratic
Convention to challenge the seating of Mississippi's Regular Democratic
Party. It was during a credentials committee hearing at this convention
that she made her famous television appearance telling of the problems she
encountered trying to vote in Mississippi. She recalled that "The first
vote I cast, I cast . . . for myself, because I was running for Congress."
She opposed the incumbent from her congressional district, Representative
Jamie Whitten.

Mrs. Hamer traveled widely on behalf of the civil rights movement. She
made addresses in many major cities and colleges in the United States.
Mrs. Hamer was also instrumental in forming the farming cooperative,
Freedom Farms, in Sunflower County, Mississippi. Among her many endeavors,
Mrs. Hamer campaigned unsuccessfully for a seat in the state senate in
1971.

Mrs. Hamer passed away March 14, 1977, in the hospital at Mound Bayou,
Mississippi. Her funeral was conducted in Ruleville, and she was laid to
rest on March 21 at Freedom Farms Cooperative, which she helped to found.

(c) 1997-1998 Oral History Department, University of Southern Mississippi

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